Door latch



July 14, 1931. F. SCHMIDGALL DOOR LATCH Filed June 28, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2 2 fi 9 L. I |J ll H w a 3 5 5 1 z 2 0 1. /Jr

h. HU

' INVENTOR.

y 1931- F. SCHMIDGALL 1,814,636

DOOR LATCH Filed June 28, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 1 5o f 1e g I Q r vi: 1

INVENY/"OR. a, W

ATTORNEY.

Patented July 14, 1931 Arms FREDERICK SGI-IMIDGALL. F CINCINNATI, OHIO DOOR LATCH v Application filed June 28,

My invention relates to improvements in latch mechanism for cold storage and refrigerator doors. One of its objects is to provide improved and more. efiicient latch mechanism ti' adapted to tightly close and hold the door in place when closed and to prevent the door remaining in a partly closed position where cold air could continue to escape at the joints between the doorand door frame. Another 1H3 object is to provide latch mechanism adapted to resist the. tendency of the door to rebound when closed and to draw the door tightly closed as the rebound subsides. Anotherobject is to provide an improved latch mecha- 15 nism adapted to be applied interchangeably to right hand or left hand doors. Another object is to pr'ovide an improved latch mechanism supported in cam guides and adapted to wedge the ends of the latch into relation to the door frame to draw the door more closely into engagement with the door frame. My invention also comprises certaindetails of form and arrangement and combination N of components, all of which will be fully set forth in the description of the accompanying drawings in'which Fig. 1 is an inside plan of a cold storage door and door frame with my improved latch mechanism applied thereto. I v Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional detail taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1. i

Fig. 3 is avertical section taken on line 33. of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on line 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a view of the outside actuating lever and means for locking the same. The accompanying drawings illustrate one embodiment of my invention in which represents the door frame and 16 the door of a refrigerator or cold storage room hinged at 14 to the door frame- The door frame is provided preferably with metal plates 17 on the inner face thereof against which the ends of the latch me'mber18 engage to wedge and holdv the door in closed position. The latch member 18 is supported near opposite ends in two hangers 19 and 20, which are provided with inclined guideways 21 and22 5 by means of which the latch is guided near 192s.- Serial Nb. 288,981."

its opposite ends into and out of engagement with the plates 17 on the door frame in such manner as to wedge the ends of the latch against the plates 17 and exert a continuous pressure tending to draw the door tightly a ainst the door frame, and tothereby providetight joints between the door anddoor frame and prevent loss of cold air. a

The latch member 18 is lifted by means of a hand lever 24 on the outside of the door or by means of a hand'lev er 25 on the. inside of the door. The hand levers 24 and y 25 are connected together through the door by means of a polygonal actuating shaft27 to which the hub of the lever 25 is attached by means of athumb-screw or set screw 28. The lever 24 is attached to the shaft 27 by means of a pin or rivet 29. The hub of the lever 24 journals in a journal box 30 in a face plate 31 attached rigidly by screws or bolts 32 to the outside of the door, one of which is so placed as to be inaccessible beneath the lever 24 when the lever 24 is padlocked' in place- The joints at the journal box 30 are sufficiently close to prevent any appreciable loss of cold air. The plate 31 is provided with' spaced projections 33 and the lever 24. is provided with similar projections 34, which are adjacent to the projections when the door is closed and said projections 33 and 34 are adapted to be locked together by means of a padlock 35 or other similar means as shown in Fig. 5 to prevent the door being opened. The hub of thelever 25 is journaled in a journal box 36 in a face plate 37 attached rigidly to the inside of the door. The lever 25 is attached to the middle portion of the latch member 18by means of a bolt38 and nut 39, thereby enabling the latch member 18 to be lifted vertically by means of either lever 24 or lever 25. At the same time the heads 40 and nuts 41 of the bolts 42 travel endwise of the inclined guide channels 22 or 21 and thereby cause the latch member to be shifted in a horizontal as well as a vertical direction tovthereby retract the ends of the latch member from engagement with the plates 17 when the door is to be opened, or when the latch member is lowered to thrust the ends of the latch member horizontally and downwardly into engagement with the plates 17. The lever 25 has a horizontally directed slot 43 to enable the bolt 38 to move horizontally therein as the latch member 18 moves horizontally relative to lever 25. The ends of the latch member 18 are preferably bent to an inclined position as shown in Fig. 2 in order to engage the plates before the door is fully closed, and by the weight of the latch member and hand levers, and the inclined thrust of the guide ways 22 against the bolt heads and nuts to force the ends of the latch member 18 progressively against the plates 17 at top and bottom of the door frame until the door is entirely closed.

WVhen the latch member has been lifted by one of the hand levers sufficiently for the ends of the latch member to clear the plates 17, and for the door to be opened, a gravity latch 44 which is pivotally mounted by means of a pivot pin 45 to the ears 46 attached to the hanger 19, drops by gravity into engagen'ient with the latch member 18, as shown in 3 to hold the latch member 18 in its elevated or retracted position until the door is again closed, whereupon the tip-turned end 47 of the ,pin 45 engages a stop lug 48 on the inside of the door frame which rocks the pin 45 and the gravity latch 44 which is'rigidly attached thereto by means of the set screw 49, and releases the latch member 18, whichrides down the inclined ways 22 and'its free ends engage the plates 17 and automatically draw the door firmly to its closed position. A weight off-center assists in actuating the gravity latch 44 to engage the latch member 18 with certainty. The hangers 19 and 20 are preferably constructed in two. sections, the rear section 52 thereof being separate and held in place by the screws or bolts 53 when the hangers are attached to the doors. The latch member 18 isinterposed between the members 52 at one side and the member 19 or 20 at the opposite side. The hangers 19 and 20 are adapted to be used on either right hand or left hand opening doors, by shifting them to one side or the other ofthe door and using either the inclined guideways 22 or the guideways 21 as may be required. The latch member 18 is reversable in position for use on either right hand or left hand doors. If desired the. ends of the latch member 18 in place of engaging plates 17 may be employed toenter latch recesses or pockets let into the 'door frame.

It frequently happens that a person is accidentally locked in or by robbers inten tionally locked in a cold storage room. In the event of a person being so locked in a cold storage room employing my improved lock, .the .person may release-the thumb screw 28 and push theshank 2T outwardly, whereupon the projections 33 and 34 will separate a endwise'and release the padlock thereby enabling the person within the cold storage room to open the door and come out. When the door is locked it cannot be readily tam pered with from the outside to unlock it.

The apparatus herein shown and described is capable of considerable modification within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Vhat I claim is 1. A latch mechanism comprising in combination witha door and door frame, a gravity actuated latch member supported near opposite ends thereof by means ofhangersmounted stationarily upon the door and servingto guide said latch member in a plane parallel to the door and to guide the latch member in an inclined direction within said plane .to extend and retract the ends of the latch member, latch engaging members carried by the door frame in. position to be engaged by opposite ends of the latch member, a pawl carried by the door adapted to engage and hold the latch member in its retracted position while the door is open, means to engage and trip said pawl and release said pawl when said door is closed, and actuating means to lift said latchmember when it is desired to open said door.

2. A latch mechanism comprising a door, latch supporting hangers mounted upon the door near the top and bottom thereof and each provided with an inclined guidefway, a latch member supported relative to the door by said hangers and guided by said inclined guideways to move diagonally relative to the door to engage and disengage the ends of said latch member with the door frame, means carried by said door to catch and hold said latch member in its elevated or retracted position while the door is in open position, and to be tripped to release the latch when the door is closed.

3. A latch mechanism comprising a latch member mounted upon the inner face of the door and adapted to be actuated to engage and disengage the door frame, an actuating shaft passing through the door, face plates attached to the inner and outer faces of the door and through which said actuating shaft projects, an actuating lever on the outside of the door attached to one end of said actuating shaft, an actuating lever on the inside of the door attached detachably to the opposite end of said actuating shaft, projections extending outwardly from the outside face plate and adjacent projections extending inwardly from the outside actuating lever adapted to be locked together by a padlock to lock the door in closed position, said actuating shaft and outside actuating lever when released from said inside actuating .lever being adapted to be pushed endwise through the door to disengage the outside actuating lever from said padlock and to thereby enable the door to be opened from the inside.

4. In a door latch, a latch member having ends with inclined faces to engage the door frame and wedge the door into closed position, operating means pivoted to the door,

5 means to connect said member between its ends to the operating means whereby upon operation of the operating means the member is caused to move vertically, and guiding means engaging the ends of the latch member 0 to effect movement of said ends thereby to cause same to have wiping engagement with the door frame in the plane of the door and at an angle to the vertical edge of the door upon vertical movement of the latch member.

15 5. In a door latch, a latch member having a vertical part and substantially right angular elongated ends, said ends having inclined faces to engage the door frame and wedge the door into closed position, operating means 2Q pivoted to the door, means to connect said vertical part of the latch member between its ends to the operating means, whereby upon operation of the operating means the member is caused to move vertically, guiding 95 means engaging the ends of the latch member to effect movement of said ends thereby to cause same to have wiping engagement with the door frame in the plane of the door and at an angle to the vertical edge of the so door upon vertical movement of the latch member, and means engageable with one of said right angular ends of the latch member to hold the latch member in retracted position, while the door is in open position and 35 to trip and release the latch member when the door is closed. 7 7 6. In a door latch, a latch member mounted upon the inner face of the door and having means to engage the door frame, an actuating 4U shaft extending through. the door, an actuating lever carried by said shaft on the outside of the door, an actuating lever detachably connected to said'shaft on the inside of the door, padlock engaging means carried by the exterior of the door, and padlock engaging means carried by the first named lever whereby to lock the door in closed position, said padlock engaging means being releasably engaged with the padlock upon axial 5 movement of the shaft outwardly of the door, so that when the lever on the inside of the door is detached from the shaft the latter may be moved endwise through the door to thereby disengage the padlock and to enable the door to be opened from the inside.

In testimony whereof I have aifixed my signature.

FREDERICK SCHMIDGALL. 

